Fatal PMA hazing case hounds confirmation of Solcom chief

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Appointments on Wednesday (Sept. 8) deferred the confirmation of Maj. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, commander of the military’s Southern Luzon Command (Solcom).

Bacarro’s confirmation was the only one deferred by the CA committee on national defense. The CA confirmed the ad interim appointments and nominations of 39 other generals and senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The family of Darwin Dormitorio, a cadet who died from maltreatment in the hands of his upperclassmen in the Philippine Military Academy in 2019, opposed the confirmation of Bacarro, who was the PMA commandant of cadets at the time.

“Will we entrust Maj. Gen. Bacarro with the heavy responsibility of a 3-star general and the entire Southern Luzon when his track record shows that he failed miserably in PMA, an assignment considerably less difficult by military standards with a population only exceeding 1,000?” said Dexter Dormitorio, the brother of Darwin.

“What Mr. Bacarro achieved 30 years ago does not remove the fact that a life was claimed from his ineptitude as a leader and decision-maker,” Dormitorio said.

Gerarda Villa, a parent whose child died from hazing 30 years ago, called for the postponement of Bacarro’s nomination. She had nothing to do with Bacarro’s case directly, however.

Villa, who spoke as the founding president of Crusade Against Violence, said she was opposing Bacarro’s confirmation for his “utter disregard for accountability and negligence.”

“We never learn because there’s no punishment,” she said in Filipino. “I’m not saying he was at fault but he had command responsibility,” she added.

Bacarro said he understood the family’s grief but the accusations against him have tainted his reputation despite the court clearing him of criminal liabilities.

“This grief no matter how sour does not license anyone to persistently prosecute another in all venues and platforms without any basis of law and in fact,” Bacarro told the CA panel.

“I understand that these are accusations from a grieving family. However, it pains me that these accusations continue to taint my reputation when the investigation itself has established the absence of any criminal liability on my part,” he said.

Because of lack of time for deliberations, the CA panel decided to defer his confirmation until the next hearing on Sept. 15.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had earlier defended the promotion of Bacarro, as the general had been cleared of criminal charges by the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office last year. Six cadets and three officials from the PMA General Hospital were charged with Dormitorio’s death.

“Those responsible for the death of Cadet Dormitorio are now facing criminal charges. It would be an injustice to MGen. Bacarro if he is prevented from moving up in the ladder of command for something that he did not commit,” Lorenzana said in July, when Bacarro was assigned as commander of Solcom, a three-star position.

Lorenzana said Bacarro’s appointment went through a rigorous selection process by the AFP Board of Generals.

Bacarro is a recipient of the country’s highest military award for combat, the Medal of Valor, after leading an operation to repel a communist guerrilla attack in Isabela in 1991.

TSB